Bodies of Tawang tragedy victims reach home, Rijiju assures fincial assistance
From a Correspondent
Tezpur, April 24: Dighaljuri, a remote hamlet near So-Rupai Sanctuary along the Assam-Aruchal border under Misamari Police station in Sonitpur district, was engulfed in grief after the bodies of seven persons, Jiten Orang (27), Arun Saikia (30), Nirjal Tanti (25), Ramesh Orang (17), Dakhbir Minz (26) Lajruj Baghwar (23), and Mahipal Orang (25), who had lost their lives in the tragic landslide incident in Tawang of Aruchal Pradesh following the incessant rain during the last few days in the hilly State, reached their homes.
The inhabitants of the economically poor village falling under the Jiagabharu Gaon Panchayat earn their livelihood by working as daily wage earners either in their own place or by going outside the State. Likewise, these seven poor people too went to Tawang in Aruchal Pradesh seeking a way of livelihood and to feed their families. However, surrendering themselves to ture’s fury, these people died on April 20 in Tawang.
One of the social workers of the area, Gopal Deka informed this correspondent that the Dighaljuri village comprises total 70 families who have no other way of living other than working as daily wage labourers. “The bodies of the seven deceased persons were cremated publicly. Their shradha ceremony will also be performed publicly under the aegis of social organizations like ABSU, AASU, AASAA and AGSU,” Deka said, adding that the jaja of Faruk Ahmed of Dhekiajuli who also lost his life in the same incident was performed at his home town Dhekiajuli on Sunday.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, conveyed his deep condolence to the bereaved families through the media and said that steps would be taken to provide immediate assistance of Rs 4 lakh from the Central Government and Rs 1 lakh from the Aruchal Government to the victims’ families.
Rijiju, who was briefing the media here on Sunday at the Inspector General’s Head Quarter (IGH) (Frontier) SSB, Tezpur regarding the devastating tural calamity, further said that besides lives of human beings, property worth more than RS 2 crore had been damaged. “As this time monsoon is very erratic, along with the local people of the Aruchal Pradesh and the Sister States, particularly Assam, and NDRF and SDRF, army and paramilitary forces have been kept alert so that at any moment they can combat the situation,” he said, adding he had never witnessed such a situation earlier in the hill State.
